Thermoelectric Cooler Module Structure

ABSTRACT

The present invention provides a thermoelectric cooler module structure comprising a first conductive pad, a second conductive pad, and a third conductive pad, wherein a first thermoelectric pellet and a second thermoelectric pellet are formed on said first conductive pad separately to connect said first conductive pad and said second conductive pad, said first conductive pad and said third conductive pad, and an isolation layer formed between said first thermoelectric pellet and said second thermoelectric pellet on said first conductive pad.

BACKGROUND OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

1. Field of Invention

The invention relates to a thermoelectric cooling module structure, and more particularly to a thermoelectric cooler module structure for automation and without a need of handwork in fabrication process.

2. Description of Related Arts

Referring to the FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C, they illustrate the conventional structure of thermoelectric cooler modules. The solder (not shown) is used to bind the conductive pad 110 and thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 mechanically and electrically. The conductive pad 110 is a piece of metal with good electric and thermal conductivity usually made of but not limited to copper. The thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 are usually but not limited to Bi and Te based alloy with high Seebeck coefficient, high electric conductivity, and low thermal conductivity. Two types of thermoelectric pellets, one with positive Seebeck coefficient and called P type 140 and the other with negative Seebeck coefficient and called N type 150, are cascaded electrically to form a basic construction unit of a thermoelectric cooler module as shown in FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C. During a conventional fabrication process, a mode 160 is required to define the positions of thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 to prevent the thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 contacting each other while the solder is melt. The thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 are placed in the holes 161, 162 of the mode 160 separately, and the mode 160 is removed after the solder is cured and thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 are fixed on the conductive pad 110.

Automatic placing the thermoelectric pellets 140, 150 is difficult due to the small size of the holes in the mode. There is little tolerance for placing accuracy, and any placing mistake will screw up the module fabrication. Therefore, it has to be done by hand-picking pellets into holes one by one, and is a labor-intensive work, since there are tens to hundreds of thermoelectric pellets and conductive pad connections to form a thermoelectric cooler module.

For the conventional structure, it is almost impossible to have a totally automatic fabrication process due to the assembly difficulty. Labor-intensive process can be expensive and not efficient for mass production. Therefore, there is a need to provide a new structure to avoid the labor work and to enable automatic fabrication process.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION

An object of the present invention is to provide a thermoelectric cooler module structure to improve the efficiency of the fabrication process.

Another object of the present invention is to save cost of fabrication for no need of the modes to manually place thermoelectric pellets.

Accordingly, in order to accomplish the one or some or all of the above objects, the cooling structure comprising a first conductive pad, a second conductive pad, and a third conductive pad, wherein a first thermoelectric pellet and a second thermoelectric pellet are formed on said first conductive pad separately to connect said first conductive pad and said second conductive pad, said first conductive pad and said third conductive pad, and an isolation layer formed between said first thermoelectric pellet and said second thermoelectric pellet on said first conductive pad.

One or part or all of these and other features and advantages of the present invention will become readily apparent to those skilled in this art from the following description wherein there is shown and described a preferred embodiment of this invention, simply by way of illustration of one of the modes best suited to carry out the invention. As it will be realized, the invention is capable of different embodiments, and its several details are capable of modifications in various, obvious aspects all without departing from the invention. Accordingly, the drawings and descriptions will be regarded as illustrative in nature and not as restrictive.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIGS. 1A, 1B, and 1C illustrate the conventional structure and module for thermoelectric cooling.

FIGS. 2A and 2B illustrate the structure and module in accordance with the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

In an embodiment, referring to FIGS. 2A and 2B, it is a thermoelectric cooler module structure in accordance with the present invention. A conductive pad 210 is separated by an isolation layer 260 into two sections 211, 212. The isolation layer 260 is usually but not limited to a printed high temperature epoxy which is electrically isolated, can stand for high temperature reflow process, and is anti-solder wetting during reflow process. The solder (not shown) is melted on the sections 211, 212 of the conductive pad 210. The isolation layer 260 is to avoid the solder in the two sections 211, 212 flowing to each other when melt. Therefore, the thermoelectric pellets 240, 250 can be confined on the two sections 211, 212 separately to assure the thermoelectric pellets 240, 250 do not contact with each other.

A conductive pad 220 is formed on the thermoelectric pellets 240, and a conductive pad 230 is formed on the thermoelectric pellets 250. The conductive pad 220 and 230 cannot contact with each other as well. The structure can be repeated to form a matrix between two ceramic plates 270, 280 as a thermoelectric cooler module. The placement of thermoelectric pellets 250 does not need to be extremely accurate since there are no holes of mode. This enables the automation of fabrication process using automatic placing machines. When the solder is melted in reflow, the thermoelectric pellets 250 will be moved to the right place and not contact each other. All the steps mentioned above can be done without the need of handwork.

One skilled in the art will understand that the embodiment of the present invention as shown in the drawings and described above is exemplary only and not intended to be limiting.

The foregoing description of the preferred embodiment of the present invention has been presented for purposes of illustration and description. It is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the invention to the precise form or to exemplary embodiments disclosed. Accordingly, the foregoing description should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive. Obviously, many modifications and variations will be apparent to practitioners skilled in this art. The embodiments are chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the invention and its best mode practical application. thereby to enable persons skilled in the art to understand the invention for various embodiments and with various modifications as are suited to the particular use or implementation contemplated. It is intended that the scope of the invention is defined by the claims appended hereto and their equivalents in which all terms are meant in their broadest reasonable sense unless otherwise indicated. It should be appreciated that variations may be made in the embodiments described by persons skilled in the art without departing from the scope of the present invention as defined by the following claims. Moreover, no element and component in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element or component is explicitly recited in the following claims. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A thermoelectric cooler module structure comprising a first conductive pad, a second conductive pad, and a third conductive pad, wherein a first thermoelectric pellet and a second thermoelectric pellet are formed on said first conductive pad separately to connect said first conductive pad and said second conductive pad, and said first conductive pad and said third conductive pad; characterized by: an isolation layer formed between said first thermoelectric pellet and said second thermoelectric pellet on said first conductive pad.
 2. The thermoelectric cooler structure according to the claim 1, wherein said first conductive pad comprises a first conductive pad.
 3. The thermoelectric cooler structure according to the claim 1, wherein said second conductive pad comprises a second conductive pad.
 4. The thermoelectric cooler structure according to the claim 1, wherein said third conductive pad comprises a third conductive pad. 